ok, my replies to last three replies below.

satinet: switched it to local master = yes and still same thing: after long delay, finally prompted for login info, but a password that i am 100% positive is right just gets rejected. or SOMETHING's happening to reject it!

hlyrad: i copied your smb.conf file and replaced only the couple thing's specific to my system (like workgroup and names) but still had ssame result as above. however, it got me thinking about smbpasswd file and it's location and how the login might not be looking in the right place for verification/authentication. but apparently i didnt quite get there cuz i keep getting the SAME OLD RESULT.

msound: i saved my old smb.conf file and started over with yours. however, i'm confused as to why there was no mention of smbpasswd or smbusers files anywhere in your post. arent those required? also, i used testparm to verify integrity of smb.conf and this was at the very bottom.

[mike]
comment = mike's share
path = /home/mike
read only = no
guest ok = Yes

of course, your smb.conf file included -

[mike]
comment = mike's share
path = /home/mike
public = yes
browseable = yes
writable = yes
guest ok = yes
read only = no
printable = no

does it matter that these seem to be different? anyway, so i tried accessing again. (again, the server's name is 'homer' and i'm trying to share the 'mike' home folder.) here are the three methods i tried:

1) My Network Places (double-clicking on visible Samba server)

[COLOR=dark-blue]"\\Homer is not accessible. You might not have permissions to use this network resource. Network path was not found."[/COLOR]

2) Run dialog box

[COLOR=dark-red]"\\homer\mike - network path not found"[/COLOR]

3) Map network drive - loooooong delay and then

"No service is operating at the destination network endpoint on the remote system."

But get this: I change nothing and merely click OK again to try again and after a delay, it brings up a login prompt!!! I try to log in with info I've set in smbpasswd and still gets rejected. no error message - just kicks immediately back to login prompt. I've since removed any instance of 'mike' in the smbusers file and makes no difference.

I cant help but think that in my initial troubleshooting, when using SWAT and RedHat's built-in Samba utility, i messed something up that the vi editor is not seeing/considering. if i reinstall Samba from the CDs, does it overwrite any previous Samba settings and start fresh? or should i forget the CDs' Samba 2 and get Samba 3?

here is what smb.conf currently looks like:

# Samba config file created using SWAT
# from homer (127.0.0.1)
# Date: 2005/06/29 00:41:21
# Global parameters
[global]
workgroup = BINY
netbios name = HOMER
server string = sambasvr
security = user
encrypt passwords = Yes
log file = /var/log/samba/%m.log
max log size = 10
socket options = TCP_NODELAY SO_RCVBUF=8192 SO_SNDBUF=8192
local master = Yes
hosts allow = 10.1.1.
dns proxy = No
unix password sync = No
smb passwd file = /etc/samba/smbpasswd
passwd program = /usr/bin/passwd %u
passwd chat = *New*password* %n\n *Retype*new*password* %n\n *passwd:*all*authentication*tokens*updated*successfully*

[homes]
comment = Home Directories
valid users = %S
read only = No
create mask = 0644
directory mask = 0755
browseable = No

[mike]
comment = mike's share
path = /home/mike
public = yes
browseable = yes
writable = yes
guest ok = yes
read only = no
printable = no

trying '\\homer\homes' doesnt make any difference either, fyi.